Photo by Tamie Meck Ty Grant sprints toward a state championship in the 200-meter dash at the state track and field meet in Lakewood. Grant has been named all-conference in 10 events and this year made the CHSAA/MaxPreps all-state team in four events. He

Ty Grant knew early on that he had natural speed. A 27-time individual placer during his four years of track competition at Cedaredge High School, he discovered it after winning a lot of sprint races in junior high school and at the Hershey's Track and Field Games, considered the Olympics of junior high track.

In the overall history of track at Cedaredge, which has won numerous individual and team titles throughout the years, Grant believes he's among the best of the legends from CHS. "I don't want to seem cocky or anything, but I believe I've made my way to making history," said Grant in the final hours of the Colorado State Track and Field Championships at Lakewood. "I'm very glad with my high school career."

The record books agree. Since becoming head coach in 1999, Kirby Henderson has kept meticulous record of each athlete's accomplishments and has records dating to 1957. Grant leaves CHS with three school records ­-- the 800m relay with Isaac Swoffer, Drew Markley and Brendon Klaseen of 1:30.74 set in 2017, and the 800m medley record of 1:38.21 with Danny Mendoza, Jordan McMillan and Markley.

Each year, Grant got faster. At this year's state meet he broke his final school record with a preliminary 200m time of 22.41. In finals he won the event with a time of 22.62. He also ran a career best 11 seconds in 100m dash preliminaries, nudging the 1989 school record of 10.86 held by Ty Williams; and finished third in finals.

"I was kind of surprised by that," said Grant of preliminary time. In finals he tightened up a bit. "It was all on me," he said. Still, he was happy with his performance. "Third place isn't terrible. I would have liked the win, but you don't get everything you wish for sometimes."

Grant also ran on the state champion 800m relay team with Wyatt Camp, Alex Barron and Markley; and 1600-meter team with Markley, Mendoza and Jordan McMillan. For scoring 37 points in relays, Cedaredge was awarded the "Golden Baton" by Mile Split.

Before running the final race of the state meet, the 1600m relay, Grant was still focused on winning. "I'm just looking to do the best I can for my team right now," he said. "I just want to run hard and that's it."

Grant pointed to Henderson as his biggest inspiration. "I really thank him for making me who I am today," he said. "He's pushed me at every single track meet, every single practice that I've ever had."

He's also inspired by his teammates. "All of them are great," he said. His long list includes seniors Markley, McMillan and Mendoza, Andrew Richardson, and Isaac Vader. Because they look up to him, the freshman class helps keep him in line, he said.

Grant recently signed to run track for Colorado Mesa University. He said he's proud of what he did in high school, and humble at the same time. He's also optimistic about the future.

"I hope to make history at Colorado Mesa University," said Grant. "I'd like to do that just like I did at my high school."